As I was praying this morning (12-17-25), the Lord told me to read Matt. 5:48 and ask for understanding and insight concerning being ‘perfect’ in conjunction with seeing myself through His eyes.  It reads:

‘You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ (Matthew 5:48 ESV with cross references: ch. 19:21; 1 Cor. 2:6 (Gk.); Phil. 3:15 (Gk.); Col. 1:28; 4:12 (Gk.); James 1:4; 3:2; See Gen. 17:1)

The Lord said to me today as I sought Him, ‘I want you to live life and enjoy it.  Life is more than chasing after food and clothes for the body.  It is about the abundant life I have for you – the fruit of the Spirit.”

My Understanding of What God is Showing Me

When Jesus said ‘Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’ he was referring back to His statement in vv. 43-45

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’ [Lev. 19:18]. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven…” Matthew 5:43-45

The Father is a God of love and we are to love like Him – both our neighbors and our “enemies” (although Jesus taught in the story of the Good Samaritan that everyone is our neighbor).  He demonstrated His love towards us in that “while we were yet sinners (His enemies) Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).  John writes in 1 John 4:16-21:

‘So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother’ – 1 John 4:16-21

So, when Jesus was saying “be perfect” He was referring to loving in the same manner the Father loves us.  As I love in this way, I die to myself, take up my cross, and follow Him allowing the fruit of the Spirit to develop and mature in me.

He was also making a transitional statement between the teaching formula He was using in Matt. 5 – ‘you have heard that it was said…but I tell you’ to teaching in Matt. 6 about how to be ‘perfect’ (the spiritual disciplines, all of which are based in love [not works], with Christ in the center as our Savior).  He was transitioning from the OT ‘Law and Prophets’ by which His hearers were living to finding freedom in Christ.  He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.  The law brought a yoke of slavery demonstrating that righteousness before God could not be attained by adherence to the Law.  The point of the OT Law was to show them their total depravity before God and their need for a Savior.  When Jesus fulfilled the Law by living a perfect life under the Law, followed by His death, burial, and resurrection for our sin, He brought freedom for all who would trust in Him.

How is my heavenly Father ‘perfect?’ He is holy, righteous, and just, full of mercy, grace, and forgiveness. He is love but demands justice because of His holiness and righteousness.

Yes, He forgives, showing mercy and grace, but if He did not punish sin He would break His own attributes of holiness and righteousness.

What is the answer to this dilemma? Jesus is the answer.  Jesus came to satisfy the Father’s wrath towards sin so that God’s holiness and righteousness might be satisfied and maintained.  Through Jesus’ sacrificial death, God the Father can demonstrate mercy and grace to all who believe in His gospel message.

So, what does that mean for me when Jesus said ‘be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect?’  I cannot be perfect in and of myself which Jesus demonstrates throughout His teachings in Matt. 5.  When Jesus said ‘You have heard that it has been said…but I tell you’ He was demonstrating His authority over the Law and the utter impossibility for me (and everyone) to live a righteous and holy life under the Law or even apart from the Law.  I need a Savior!

Am I saved? Yes.

Am I perfect? No.  Not in and of myself.  I cannot work for my salvation.  Jesus said that unless my righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and Sadducees (who had a standard of ’perfection’ according to the Law) I will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  I need a Savior!

My ‘perfection’ comes in my surrender to Christ Jesus, submission to the will of the Father, and walking in the Spirit.  Jesus said to be perfect I must love, not judge (even my enemies).  Only in these ways will I develop the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-24).  My heavenly Father’s perfection of holiness, righteousness, justice, forgiveness, mercy and grace are found in me when I surrender, submit and walk with Him and in His power being transformed into the likeness of His Son.  This is not works – it is surrender!

How then does God see me?  Through the righteousness of Christ.  In Christ, the Father sees the perfection of Christ Jesus in His obedience to the Father where Jesus paid the price for the penalty of my sin.  I stand in His perfection, having been bought and paid for.  While I have been bought, I am also adopted as His son and a co-heir with Christ.

God sees me with eyes of love.  While my imperfections are still evident to me and those around me, He sees me going through the process of sanctification.  He sees me as already glorified because of His foreknowledge.  Rom. 8:29-30 states this process:

‘For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.’ (Romans 8:29-30)

In summary of how I am to see myself through God’s eyes: I am loved, forgiven, strengthened, empowered, justified, and glorified.  I am His adopted son and co-heir with Christ. 

Do I still struggle with sin? Yes. But that is not how God sees me.  He sees me through the lens of Christ, having cast all my sin into the ‘sea of forgetfulness.’  All my sin, past-present-future, was dealt with through the cross. Now, there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  God is taking me through His process of sanctification, making me to be more like Christ thus displaying in me in increasing measure the fruit of the Spirit and living the abundant life Jesus came to give.